The Sports Casters on Kings, Rings and Other Things

On the twenty-third episode of the second season of The Sports-Casters, hosts Steve Bennett and Don Russ welcome SL Price (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com), Lee Jenkins (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com), and Michael Woods (thesweetscience.com, ESPN the Magazine) to the podcast.

Kicking off the show with 3Things, Steve and Don talk about the Los Angeles Kings winning the Stanley Cup, LeBron James carrying the Heat to the NBA Finals, and go over some of the shocking details revealed at the beginning of the Jerry Sandusky trial. Also, Steve and Don chat about the strange end to the Manny Pacquiao/Timothy Bradley fight, the shocking retirement of I’ll Have Another, and the start of the UEFA Euro 2012.

SL Price is making his second appearance on the podcast to chat about some of his recent work for Sports Illustrated and SI.COM. The first half of the interview focusses on SL’s SI cover story on Josh Hamilton. Price talks about Hamilton’s historic April, his battles with substance abuse, and the unique circumstances surrounding his impending free agency. SL and Steve then have a spirited chat about Twitter. Price has yet to join and explains why, while Steve fights the fight to try and bring Price to the dark side.

Lee Jenkins makes his ninth appearance on the podcast to chat about the NBA Finals. Jenkins is on the line from his hotel in Oklahoma City just hours before the tip of game one between the Thunder and Heat. Jenkins talks about the importance of the series for LeBron James’ legacy, the depth of the Thunder, and shares the great atmosphere in Oklahoma City. Also, Steve and Lee chat about the legacy of the Dream Team and what kind of gift the Sports-Casters need to buy for Lee when he makes his tenth appearance on the show.

Michael Woods makes his first appearance on the podcast to discuss the very bizarre Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight. Woods doesn’t agree with the decision that gave Bradley the win, but he doesn’t think the result was a matter of corruption. Woods talks about the difficulty of scoring championship fights, explains the role that Twitter had in the public’s reaction to the decision, and speculates on the possibility of a Pacqiao vs Mayweather fight.